Wendy’s newest offering is saucy nuggets akin to boneless wings. But some customers say it’s a fail.
Wendy’s has seemingly been testing their saucy nuggs menu item since 2009, according to an archived Nation’s Restaurant News article.
They’ve become a “cult favorite.” However, the sauced-up nuggets only made it to the nationwide menu this month—15 years later.
The nuggets are available in four sauces: Honey BBQ, Garlic Parm, Buffalo, and Spicy Ghost Pepper. Each sauce can be paired with the regular chicken nuggets or the spicy nuggets for an extra kick. This new menu item is available as a 4, 6, 10, or 20 piece.
The fail
In a viral video with more than 4 million views, Madison Denise could already tell without opening the chicken nugget box (which has a clear lid), that she was going to be let down by what was inside.
“THEY DONT LOOK LIKE THE PICTURES,” Madison Denise (@madiwitafattty) wrote in the caption.
When Madison pulled up to her local Wendy’s she was “geeked as h*ll” when she saw they had nuggets that were already tossed in sauce.
But when she opened the box they in fact looked nothing like the picture. Her 10-piece nuggets had unappetizing, haphazardly placed sauce squirts on it, and some nuggets looked completely dry.
“These are not even f*cking sauced nuggets. These b*tches is drizzled,” Madison says, irritated. “…Don’t get this sh*t.”
At that point, you might as well get regular nuggets and dip them in sauce yourself.
Madison isn’t the only one disappointed by her nuggets’ lack of sauce. Even a taste tester for Uproxx got a sparsely sauced set of nuggets that seemed to have the sauce similarly squeezed on instead of tossed in.
People in the comments section, as always, had jokes and opinions.
“Bbl drizzled,” a top comment read.
“They’re supposed to shake them in a bowl with sauce but got lazy,” a person said.
“These franchises need to put more money and effort into streamlining their process because at these prices…” another chimed in.
Are the saucy nuggets permanently on the menu?
It remains unclear whether this is a permanent menu addition or just one more of Wendy’s limited-time additions like the Pretzel Bacon Pub Burger, Strawberry Frosty, and seasonal salads. Or maybe, this nationwide launch will determine the saucy nuggets’ eventual fate.
Fifteen years is no doubt a longer than usual time to test an item. But it’s necessary for fast-food chains to adapt their menus over time. And it makes sense that Wendy’s chose to implement a chicken nugget-based item since those were their most ordered entrée order of 2023.
“Chains have no choice but to invest heavily in research and development, so they can stay relevant to the modern consumer,” Greg Wank, a partner at Anchin, Block & Anchin, a firm that provides accounting and advisory services to the food and beverage industry, told the Wall Street Journal.
@madiwitafattty THEY DONT LOOK LIKE THE PICTURES
♬ original sound – badhogettaa
Many places are chasing after their next Egg McMuffin, the popular breakfast sandwich that put McDonald’s on the map as a go-to breakfast spot, opening them up to a new market and additional revenue dollars, the Wall Street Journal reported.
And Wendy’s isn’t the only fast-food chain trying to profit off of this tried and true way to prepare chicken. In March, KFC also launched Saucy Nuggets, with five flavors (one more than Wendy’s). These are sold at 10 for $5.99.
The Daily Dot reached out to Madison for comment via Instagram and TikTok direct message and to Wendy’s via email.
The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here to get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
